YouTube returns after three-month ban: “Access to YouTube, a popular video sharing Web site banned in early May by a controversial court decision for broadcasting videos deemed insulting to the nations founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was reinstated on Saturday night.”

It may take up to 72 hours for all Internet users to be able to access the Web site as Turkey’s Internet service providers reconfigure their systems to reflect the court’s decision. An estimated 1.5 million people from within Turkey had been visiting YouTube every day despite the ban by using several proxy server Web sites. Turkey was one of four countries to block access to the Web site; Thailand, China and Pakistan continue to impose similar bans. YouTube has been banned in Turkey five times since March 2007.

Bans on YouTube and other Web sites were criticized and strongly protested in Turkey. A campaign, launched by elmaaltshift.com to draw attention to and protest the bans, lasted for three days, ending on Aug. 20. Web sites participating in the campaign posted notices on their home pages reading “Access to this Web site has been denied by the Web site’s own decision,” in imitation of what one sees upon trying to access a banned Web site.

25 August 2008, Monday
TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES İSTANBUL